The COE and Piotr Anderszewski in Bordeaux
18-22 October 2021
Introduction
The COE is delighted to return to Bordeaux, this time with Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski, to perform a programme of Mozart, Stravinsky and Haydn at the Auditorium on 21st October. The Orchestra’s relationship with Bordeaux has been flourishing since 2015, only a couple of years after the new Auditorium had opened, and we have been performing there every year, apart from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our project with Sir Antonio Pappano and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, scheduled for February 2021, was also cancelled due to the pandemic, we were delighted that our concert with Piotr remained in the Auditorium’s diary. Following our first concert in Bordeaux in May 2015 with Vladimir Jurowski and Radu Lupu, we were invited to perform again with artists including Lisa Batiashvili, Thierry Fischer, Daniel Harding, Leonidas Kavakos, Patricia Kopatchinskaya and Sir Antonio Pappano.
Our most recent projects with Piotr Anderszewski date back to 2017 when we embarked on an extensive tour of Italy, Austria, Germany and Hungary with him followed by recording sessions at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, resulting in the release of Mozart Concertos Nos. 25 and 27 by Warner Classics in 2018 – according to the Sunday Times, “It is the intimacy of his [Anderszewski’s] rapport with the wind soloists of the COE that makes this issue so special”.
Piotr Anderszewski
Piotr Anderszewski appears regularly in recital at such concert halls as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs-élysées and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. His collaborations with orchestra have included appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic and Berlin Staatskapelle orchestras, the London Symphony and Philharmonia orchestras and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has also placed special emphasis on playing and directing, working with orchestras such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Camerata Salzburg.
In the 2020-21 season Anderszewski performed at the Palau di Musíca in Barcelona, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Wigmore Hall in London, among other halls. His recital programme featured a specially curated selection from J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, which is also the subject of his latest recording released in January 2021. His orchestral engagements included appearances with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrusa, and the Wiener Symphoniker conducted by David Zinman.
Piotr Anderszewski has been an exclusive artist with Warner Classics/Erato (previously Virgin Classics) since 2000. His first recording for the label was Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which went on to receive a number of prizes. He has also recorded Grammy-nominated discs of Bach’s Partitas 1, 3 and 6 and Szymanowski’s solo piano works, the latter also receiving a Gramophone award in 2006. His recording devoted to works by Robert Schumann received the BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Year award in 2012. Anderszewski’s disc of Bach’s English Suites nos. 1, 3 and 5, released in November 2014, went on to win both a Gramophone award and an ECHO Klassik award in 2015.
Recognised for the intensity and originality of his interpretations, Piotr Anderszewski has been a recipient of the Gilmore award, the Szymanowski Prize and a Royal Philharmonic Society award.
He has also been the subject of several documentaries by the film maker Bruno Monsaingeon. ‘Piotr Anderszewski plays Diabelli Variations’ (2001) explores Anderszewski’s particular relationship with Beethoven’s iconic work. ‘Unquiet Traveller’ (2008) is an unusual artist portrait, capturing Anderszewski’s reflections on music, performance and his Polish-Hungarian roots.
In 2016 Anderszewski got behind the camera himself to explore his relationship with his native Warsaw, creating a film entitled ‘Je m’appelle Varsovie’.
Jose Maria Blumenschein
For this concert, the COE will be led by Jose Maria Blumenschein. A native of Freiburg, Germany, born of Brazilian parents, Jose Maria currently serves as 1st Concertmaster of the WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne after serving as Associate Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra for three seasons. During his tenure with WDR he also took 2 Seasons off to perform as first Concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera and Philharmonic.
As a passionate leader he regularly performs with many Orchestras and Ensembles such as Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dresden Staatskapelle, NDR Radio Orchestra and many more.
Mr. Blumenschein is also a founding member of ‘Kammermusik Köln’, a chamber music series in Cologne founded by members of WDR Radio, Gürzenich Orchestra, and Cologne Conservatory to be the first all year chamber music series in Cologne.
Born in 1985, Mr. Blumenschein received his first violin lesson at the age of four in Freiburg, Germany, at the “Pflüger Institute for Highly Gifted Children”. In 1990 he began studies with Vera Kramarowa in Mannheim. In 2001 Mr. Blumenschein was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with conductor and violinist Joseph Silverstein and served as Concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.